Elder Patnum and I are now back in Kazakhstan. We got back yesterday early in the morning and we are happy to be here! Being in Russia, even for just a short time, has made me realized how blessed I am to really serve here. The people are much more open and kind when compared to Russians. But, being in Russia also gave me new confidence with my Russian because I realized that I could understand and communicate with them, maybe even better than with Kazaks. I think that is maybe because my companion is Russian so I am really getting used to the Russian accent. The Elders in Smolensk are struggling with investigators and finding people to teach so we really buckled down and worked hard to find people while we were there. It was very hot and humid but it was very successful and in one day we were able to give out 8 Books of Mormon and get 12 contacts! Haha-ps that is a lot for Russia! The whole week ended up being really successful! Also I was able to work with and see Elder Bybee from high school so that was a great experience.
There is one particular event that I really enjoyed there. In Russia they have an English Club where a big group of people come and you teach english and then do a spiritual thought. (In Kazakhstan we always do individual english practice) But, Elder Patnum and I were able to teach one of the lessons to the more advanced english speakers. We talked to them about stereotypes and started a discussion about it. We went through and talked about what a stereotype is and then started listing off stereotypes of Russians from our point of view and then stereotypes of Americans from their point of view... I was really scared that this might start an argument or fight but everything ended up great. We were all able to laugh at all of the stereotypes of each other such as Americans being loud and Russians all being huge muscly giants with deep voices. In the end we talked about how we shouldn't judge each other and were able to share personal experiences with judging people and bear strong testimony. It was a very strong and spiritual lesson. After the lesson we found out that a long time less active member attended who has been inactive for years and hasn't come to church, After the lesson he talked about how he felt the spirit again for the first time in a long time and realized how much he missed that feeling and promised to come back to church. It was just a small experience, but made me realized the importance of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost. It is definitely the small and simple things that make great things come to pass... who knows what we can do today that will change the life of someone tomorrow!
Well, now that I am back in Kazakhstan Elder Malanin and I are getting back down to business, He goes home in less than a month and I really want to find a baptism for him before he leaves! Right now we are working on Katya's brother. I really am hoping that Katya's baptism had a strong effect on her brother. I know that he has started to open up a lot more and I know that if we can get him baptized it will be just that much easier for the whole family to do the same thing. So, that is where most of our focus is going right now.
Thank you all for the love and support and I hope that everything is going great back home! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing :)
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
*We were getting worried because we didn't hear from Kenneth on Wednesday this week!! We finally heard from him on Saturday :)
Hey guys sorry about the late e mail! Right now I am on a visa trip in Russia and we left on P Day. I found out that I am going to be staying in Kazakhstan still! I am really exciting about that because we have a lot of really good upcoming potential! I have been really blessed to stay in one area for so long and hope that I can make the best of it! I am still going to be working with Elder Malanin, but he leaves in one month to go home so that will be strange. Elder Malanin stayed in Kazakhstan and I am in a city called Smolensk with Elder Patnum, another Elder who is serving in Kazakhstan with me.
Well the first news of the week... before I left we had a baptism! Katya was baptized and I was able to baptize her! It was a great experience! He whole entire family came to support her. They are a great family and I think that the Sisters are going to start working with them very soon. Elder Malanin and I will still be working with Katya's brother Semon who really seemed to open up after the baptism. Basically the baptism was amazing... it was such a blessing for me to be able to take part in such a life changing event in someone's life. The Spirit was so strong in that room you could just feel God's presence... I have heard the saying that the spirit was so thick that you could just feel it.. now I know what that really means. A lot of our investigators came to the baptism and I think that they had a good experience as well.
Elder Malanin and I tested out a new baptismal commitment method that President Wooley showed us this past week... we tested it out on Nona. It was quite the experience! Basically, we committed to baptism.. she said no... we taught the Apostasy and testified and committed... she said no... we talked about be cleansed from sin and testified and committed again... she said no... we talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and testified and committed.... she said no... we talked about giving her a blessing to help her feel from God the need to get baptized and testified and committed... she said no. Haha it was quite the lesson! She was really mad at the end of the lesson and really hated it... but the Spirit was so strong and I can't even explain how I felt his guidance in what I was saying. Literally, I felt like I just opened my mouth sometimes and some other power was speaking through me! It was crazy and something that I can't even describe! It may have been hard for Nona.. but it was the lesson that she needed and I hope that it opened up her thoughts to really think about the importance of being baptized with the proper authority!
Being in Russia is completely different. I noticed that the people speak completely different than in Kazakhstan.. there is a different accent and they use different words. So, it has been quite the experience! Still my Russian is progressing and I am feeling more and more confident all the time. Right now I am working with an Elder Bybee in Smolensk. He is from Riverton and left on his mission about a month after me. He is the guy who got his call around the same time I did. He is having a lot of problems right now with sicknesses and stuff and can only eat certain stuff.. but he is still such a positive missionary and only sees hope! I think it is bringing him a bit more happiness since we are working together since we knew each other before the mission.
Elder Putnam, while we are here, is basically just working on getting these Elders more investigators! It is really hot and humid outside, but we are basically contacting all day to help them get more investigators. One of the Elders here is a Branch President, so he has other work that he always has to be doing with members and so that keeps them busing doing that and not being able to focus as much on finding... that is what Elder Putnum and I are trying to do for them. Well :) the work is going on and the mission is still flying by! I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support! Remember who you are! I love you!
Elder Weihing :)
Hey guys sorry about the late e mail! Right now I am on a visa trip in Russia and we left on P Day. I found out that I am going to be staying in Kazakhstan still! I am really exciting about that because we have a lot of really good upcoming potential! I have been really blessed to stay in one area for so long and hope that I can make the best of it! I am still going to be working with Elder Malanin, but he leaves in one month to go home so that will be strange. Elder Malanin stayed in Kazakhstan and I am in a city called Smolensk with Elder Patnum, another Elder who is serving in Kazakhstan with me.
Well the first news of the week... before I left we had a baptism! Katya was baptized and I was able to baptize her! It was a great experience! He whole entire family came to support her. They are a great family and I think that the Sisters are going to start working with them very soon. Elder Malanin and I will still be working with Katya's brother Semon who really seemed to open up after the baptism. Basically the baptism was amazing... it was such a blessing for me to be able to take part in such a life changing event in someone's life. The Spirit was so strong in that room you could just feel God's presence... I have heard the saying that the spirit was so thick that you could just feel it.. now I know what that really means. A lot of our investigators came to the baptism and I think that they had a good experience as well.
Elder Malanin and I tested out a new baptismal commitment method that President Wooley showed us this past week... we tested it out on Nona. It was quite the experience! Basically, we committed to baptism.. she said no... we taught the Apostasy and testified and committed... she said no... we talked about be cleansed from sin and testified and committed again... she said no... we talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and testified and committed.... she said no... we talked about giving her a blessing to help her feel from God the need to get baptized and testified and committed... she said no. Haha it was quite the lesson! She was really mad at the end of the lesson and really hated it... but the Spirit was so strong and I can't even explain how I felt his guidance in what I was saying. Literally, I felt like I just opened my mouth sometimes and some other power was speaking through me! It was crazy and something that I can't even describe! It may have been hard for Nona.. but it was the lesson that she needed and I hope that it opened up her thoughts to really think about the importance of being baptized with the proper authority!
Being in Russia is completely different. I noticed that the people speak completely different than in Kazakhstan.. there is a different accent and they use different words. So, it has been quite the experience! Still my Russian is progressing and I am feeling more and more confident all the time. Right now I am working with an Elder Bybee in Smolensk. He is from Riverton and left on his mission about a month after me. He is the guy who got his call around the same time I did. He is having a lot of problems right now with sicknesses and stuff and can only eat certain stuff.. but he is still such a positive missionary and only sees hope! I think it is bringing him a bit more happiness since we are working together since we knew each other before the mission.
Elder Putnam, while we are here, is basically just working on getting these Elders more investigators! It is really hot and humid outside, but we are basically contacting all day to help them get more investigators. One of the Elders here is a Branch President, so he has other work that he always has to be doing with members and so that keeps them busing doing that and not being able to focus as much on finding... that is what Elder Putnum and I are trying to do for them. Well :) the work is going on and the mission is still flying by! I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support! Remember who you are! I love you!
Elder Weihing :)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July , 2010
Subject: Hello Everyone!
Another week in the paradise known as Kazakhstan! It is so beautiful here and we are even going up into the mountains again with President Wooley because he is in town for Zone Conference! This week a lot of things happened!
This past Sunday I did not go to church :) Elder Brown was sick and because we wanted every companionship to be represented at church in case an investigator came we went on splits. And, to make it even better it was fast sunday! haha so I just sat at home and studied the scriptures all day, it was great! One of the best study sessions so far on my mission! But, after that Elder Malanin and I went to a different church that is called Grace, I think that is how it translates. Wow! It was crazy! I thought I was at a rock concert! There was a huge band playing and people screaming and the preacher was yelling and talking as fast as he could so that we could barely understand him, even my native Russian companion could barely understand him! I don't know how anyone felt the spirit there... all I felt was exhaustion! It was a really interesting experience.. so basically I skipped our church this week and went to a different one. :)
Nona came to sports day this past week. Haha I think I told you last week that we were trying to said up a grandma get together sports activity and actually it worked out this past Saturday! all of our grandma investigators came and they played table tennis and cards! Haha it was great! I have finally come to the fact that if we can just get one of them baptized then they are all going to get baptized! But, Nona is doing good and is finally searching for the things that she likes about the Book of Mormon. She even accepted the plan of salvation this past week! Big step!
This past week we also went to eat at Ismail's, our investigator from Palestine. He is the coolest guy on earth! The nicest guy in the world! We made some real Palastinian Plov together! It was awesome! We made some good food, ate, and then just sat there and talked about God and what he believes for awhile. It was such a peaceful experience. He is just such a calm guy. Probably one of my favorites that we are teaching right now. (PS Plov is basically just a special mixture of rice, meat, and vegetables)
My Russian is coming along really good this week. I actually realized yesterday how much I have grown in that area yesterday. Elder Nutt is in town with President Wooley so I had the chance to be able to teach with him for the first time since we split up and I realized how much better I speak and how much more I understand. It was a really good experience! I almost need to start working a little bit more on my English!
Well it is transfer time again, we are having transfers early this time. I know that at least someone from Kazakhstan is leaving, so we will find out soon if that is me or not! I don't know at all what is going to happen, I don't want to say whether I want to leave or not because I am afraid that will jinx me!
Well here is my story for the week... this story actually goes back to a long time ago when Elder Nutt and I were companions. This is when I was still pretty new to life out in the field. When I first got to the field I basically just followed everything Elder Nutt did and was too scared to do anything else... for example if we were on a bus and I saw him talking to someone then I would talk to someone but if he wasn't then I wouldn't. Haha things have changed a lot since then thank goodness. But, I remember one specific time when we were sitting on a bus with our district and everyone was together talking but I saw this kid sitting alone so I went and started talking to him (which was unusual being new a scared). I ended up getting his contact info and in fact we still meet with him to this day. He is a good kid. But, talking with him also brought his sister to our church. She started meeting with us and then because she was to young for us to teach her we gave her to the sisters. Haha well I found out this week that she is getting baptized! Wow, That was definitely not expected especially after our first lesson with her! Haha but Yesterday her dad came to look at our church and we took him on a tour and explained everything about things and now I think we are also going to start meeting with him! Haha it is just amazing to me how just little decisions we make as observers can really change a persons life! Now I understand what they meant in the MTC when they told us that we have more of an affect on whether an investigator gets baptized even more than the investigator does! The decisions we make to talk to be about the church and sincerely and spiritually prepare to teach them really make more of an effect on what happens with them, especially during the hardest times when we just don't want to do anything at all. I am more grateful than I can even express for this opportunity to share the message of the restored gospel with everyone!
Well that was my story for the week :) I hope you all have a great one! I love you all! Remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
Another week in the paradise known as Kazakhstan! It is so beautiful here and we are even going up into the mountains again with President Wooley because he is in town for Zone Conference! This week a lot of things happened!
This past Sunday I did not go to church :) Elder Brown was sick and because we wanted every companionship to be represented at church in case an investigator came we went on splits. And, to make it even better it was fast sunday! haha so I just sat at home and studied the scriptures all day, it was great! One of the best study sessions so far on my mission! But, after that Elder Malanin and I went to a different church that is called Grace, I think that is how it translates. Wow! It was crazy! I thought I was at a rock concert! There was a huge band playing and people screaming and the preacher was yelling and talking as fast as he could so that we could barely understand him, even my native Russian companion could barely understand him! I don't know how anyone felt the spirit there... all I felt was exhaustion! It was a really interesting experience.. so basically I skipped our church this week and went to a different one. :)
Nona came to sports day this past week. Haha I think I told you last week that we were trying to said up a grandma get together sports activity and actually it worked out this past Saturday! all of our grandma investigators came and they played table tennis and cards! Haha it was great! I have finally come to the fact that if we can just get one of them baptized then they are all going to get baptized! But, Nona is doing good and is finally searching for the things that she likes about the Book of Mormon. She even accepted the plan of salvation this past week! Big step!
This past week we also went to eat at Ismail's, our investigator from Palestine. He is the coolest guy on earth! The nicest guy in the world! We made some real Palastinian Plov together! It was awesome! We made some good food, ate, and then just sat there and talked about God and what he believes for awhile. It was such a peaceful experience. He is just such a calm guy. Probably one of my favorites that we are teaching right now. (PS Plov is basically just a special mixture of rice, meat, and vegetables)
My Russian is coming along really good this week. I actually realized yesterday how much I have grown in that area yesterday. Elder Nutt is in town with President Wooley so I had the chance to be able to teach with him for the first time since we split up and I realized how much better I speak and how much more I understand. It was a really good experience! I almost need to start working a little bit more on my English!
Well it is transfer time again, we are having transfers early this time. I know that at least someone from Kazakhstan is leaving, so we will find out soon if that is me or not! I don't know at all what is going to happen, I don't want to say whether I want to leave or not because I am afraid that will jinx me!
Well here is my story for the week... this story actually goes back to a long time ago when Elder Nutt and I were companions. This is when I was still pretty new to life out in the field. When I first got to the field I basically just followed everything Elder Nutt did and was too scared to do anything else... for example if we were on a bus and I saw him talking to someone then I would talk to someone but if he wasn't then I wouldn't. Haha things have changed a lot since then thank goodness. But, I remember one specific time when we were sitting on a bus with our district and everyone was together talking but I saw this kid sitting alone so I went and started talking to him (which was unusual being new a scared). I ended up getting his contact info and in fact we still meet with him to this day. He is a good kid. But, talking with him also brought his sister to our church. She started meeting with us and then because she was to young for us to teach her we gave her to the sisters. Haha well I found out this week that she is getting baptized! Wow, That was definitely not expected especially after our first lesson with her! Haha but Yesterday her dad came to look at our church and we took him on a tour and explained everything about things and now I think we are also going to start meeting with him! Haha it is just amazing to me how just little decisions we make as observers can really change a persons life! Now I understand what they meant in the MTC when they told us that we have more of an affect on whether an investigator gets baptized even more than the investigator does! The decisions we make to talk to be about the church and sincerely and spiritually prepare to teach them really make more of an effect on what happens with them, especially during the hardest times when we just don't want to do anything at all. I am more grateful than I can even express for this opportunity to share the message of the restored gospel with everyone!
Well that was my story for the week :) I hope you all have a great one! I love you all! Remember who you are! :)
Elder Weihing
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Hello Everyone!
Time is going by way too fast! This past week was a really interesting one like always... haha
Nona finally came to church for the first time! Haha I wish that I could say that she had an amazing experience, but that is just not Nona. It takes her awhile to get used to things and to say the least she really didn't like church. Here are most of her complaints... people don't know how to talk publicly in front of others, we should play music while the partake of the sacrament, and an American should lead all of the meetings. Haha we tried to explain that this is a new branch and that we are trying to give them experience and let them grow on their own and even invited her to teach a class on how to prepare and talk and speak in front of people haha but.. she didn't except that calling. But, the good thing is that she is finally taking notes on what she likes while she reads the Book of Mormon. That is basically our goal with her right now to get her to like the church and be positive! Also, we realized that a lot of other grandma's are getting interested so we are trying to get them all together to conversate.. I don't think that is a word but I don't know how we say that in English.
Arstan, the man we have a date of baptism with, is not doing so great right now. He didn't come to our last meeting and he is having some real struggles on quitting smoking. Elder Malanin and I try and visit him as much as we can so that we can try to help him quit, but we can't be there all of the time! I really hope we can figure something out in the next few weeks before his baptism!
Haha well I found out a few days ago that President is going to let me go play basketball with a bunch of people at some local rec center next Thursday. A member invited me to come a few times and I just got permission to go and I am hoping to meet a ton of people and get a lot of contacts. Haha I guess I should use my talents to find people... it will be really interesting.
Well that is basically all that really happened this week other than the usual contacting and teaching. The work is going great and I am working really hard at becoming a more diligent missionary and taking advantage of the opportunity and short time that I have to serve! I heard that all of my friends are finally leaving on their missions :) that is great and I hope that they realize what a blessing and opportunity it really is to serve and help others! I know that they will be great missionaries! Thank you all for the love, support, and especially letters! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
Time is going by way too fast! This past week was a really interesting one like always... haha
Nona finally came to church for the first time! Haha I wish that I could say that she had an amazing experience, but that is just not Nona. It takes her awhile to get used to things and to say the least she really didn't like church. Here are most of her complaints... people don't know how to talk publicly in front of others, we should play music while the partake of the sacrament, and an American should lead all of the meetings. Haha we tried to explain that this is a new branch and that we are trying to give them experience and let them grow on their own and even invited her to teach a class on how to prepare and talk and speak in front of people haha but.. she didn't except that calling. But, the good thing is that she is finally taking notes on what she likes while she reads the Book of Mormon. That is basically our goal with her right now to get her to like the church and be positive! Also, we realized that a lot of other grandma's are getting interested so we are trying to get them all together to conversate.. I don't think that is a word but I don't know how we say that in English.
Arstan, the man we have a date of baptism with, is not doing so great right now. He didn't come to our last meeting and he is having some real struggles on quitting smoking. Elder Malanin and I try and visit him as much as we can so that we can try to help him quit, but we can't be there all of the time! I really hope we can figure something out in the next few weeks before his baptism!
Haha well I found out a few days ago that President is going to let me go play basketball with a bunch of people at some local rec center next Thursday. A member invited me to come a few times and I just got permission to go and I am hoping to meet a ton of people and get a lot of contacts. Haha I guess I should use my talents to find people... it will be really interesting.
Well that is basically all that really happened this week other than the usual contacting and teaching. The work is going great and I am working really hard at becoming a more diligent missionary and taking advantage of the opportunity and short time that I have to serve! I heard that all of my friends are finally leaving on their missions :) that is great and I hope that they realize what a blessing and opportunity it really is to serve and help others! I know that they will be great missionaries! Thank you all for the love, support, and especially letters! Remember who you are!
Elder Weihing
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